Snail Ebook Project

[gojira]

I got my first snails on ebay and although I now have mixed feelings about ebay selling snails I have decided to write an ebook on snail care, not that I'm an expert or anything but I'm hoping other members might contribute or at least read it and maybe offer advice. I think this is needed because when I got mine I did a lot of research on the net beforehand and looked up a lot of info on them but when they arrived I still panicked about them for months because I'd read contradictory advice. Obviously the best thing is to join a forum and get some real people telling you what to do, but not everyone will do this though I can't really explain why not.

What I'd do is write and edit it so that it's easy to follow for a new user but comprehensive enough to give people lots of support. I do realise there are excellent resources available online including on here but I worry a lot about people who get them don't know what to do and just throw them out. Sadly I have heard of two cases of that recently and I find it very upsetting.

These books would probably only sell for £1 each 50p of which I'd be happy to donate to either this site or another good cause, the other princely sum of 50p a pop I'd stuff in my own greedy pockets to make up for the amount of time I'd end up spending answering the dumb questions ebay buyers like to ask.

If people are selling snails I would offer them the book to be included for that nominal fee or ask them to link to it or recommend it. There are great little snail care books out there but I fear the average punter will largely pick up snails as a novelty on a whim.

Please let me know what you think and whether or not supernsnails as a whole would be behind this. I work in publishing and feel pretty confident that what I write would be at least as useful as the books you can buy at a fraction of the cost.

What do people think about this idea?

[spook]

I think this is a great idea!! And yes i agree the best place for info is like places like this where you can talk to real people...but as you say,sadly not everyone joins these forums so they are left to find out info for themselves and get very confused along the way!!

I for one,would be glad to help ...I can't speak for everyone else but I'm sure we're all out to promote the same thing so I'm sure other people will offer their help as well!! ;D

[AlienSnail]

I think that it's a good idea, for all the reasons you state. The more snailie kinowledge there is out there the less chance of things going wrong. Knowledge before buting a pet is always the sensible option, but like you say not everyone will go out of their way to look, and by making sure as many people as possible have this knowledge to hand is important and sensible in my view.
And should the worse happen and the snails are no longer wanted at least they know where to find other snaily people who may be able to help with re-homoing

You are wellcome to use the general care sheet on here as a base for your's but I wouldn't mind a little something in return, royalties, but only something like 5 or 10p (not sure what's fair really).

I've tended to give stuff away all my life but now I'm going to try not doing - if that makes sense, hence the little fee, not trying to be mean or greedy, but normally I'm a bit of a mug when it comes to not taking any credit for stuff.

If you don't wish to use the care sheet on here then I'm happy to give any help when you write your own (no fee - lol)

I personally am ok with any pictures you use here as long as you first obtain permission from whoever posted the picture, otherwise you could run into legal problems if someone isn't happy with their pictutre being used.

Also it would be great, as you say, to link to several sites, this one, PetSnails, and the International Snail Sosciety when it's up and running, and indeed BugNation and others too as you see fit.

Yes not everyone wants to join a site as you say. I know someone who I keep in touch with via email who got some snails off me via FreeCycle (I typed a good caresheet in the FreeCycle ad itself to help people to know what it all involves before collection), we swap snail pictures, and give out advice etc, but he doesn't want to join the forum. Which is fine, forums are not everyone's thing for various reasons.

In short yes I think it's an excellent idea ;D ;D

[Kevin]

I think its an ok idea. I'd like to think all the information ever needed on Snails is available for free on easy to find sites like Petsnails, and on forums, and also some info on my website.

But I agree not everyone will search for these sites, and maybe (though im not generalising) are more likely to buy Snails on ebay, which may be out of impulse. If an easy to understand, yet really comprehensive guide was available through ebay I agree it should encourage better knowledge and owenership. I guess it would have to cover every species likely to be found in captivity, how to identify these species, correct spelling of species, correct grammar etc.. as well as general care?

[gojira]

That's great, just to be clear though there's absolutely no question of using anyones written material or pictures without permission so please don't worry about that! I thought about offering it for free but I think £1 is more than reasonable and allows for half of the money to go to the site or to an animal charity. The care sheet I got with mine suggested I dig up some dandelions from my garden and give them potato peelings, I might be wrong but that seems like very poor advice especially with baby snails. I'm happy to say the seller in question is now gone from ebay. The care sheets on here are excellent but I do honestly think a lot of people assume that if they don't like them they can just dump them in the garden or something. I would include a section on what to do in case you don't want to keep your snails and would offer to take them in and rehome them with someone who does want them. I might get a deluge of snails but I'd prefer that to thinking they are getting dumped out into gardens.

[gojira]

kevin said:

correct grammar etc..

Could you explain why you've said that please?

[Kevin]

gojira said:

kevin said:

correct grammar etc..

Could you explain why you've said that please?

Its a little pedantic, but in the species names, like Achatina fulica, rather than Achatina Fulica, and Achatina fulica var. hamillei, rather than Achatina fulica hamillei. It isnt aimed at you at all. It would be good to help people new to Snails understand how the latin names should be written in my opinion.

[AlienSnail]

Oh yes!!! Sorry Kevin mate, your site also (temporarily forgot ).

There are probably more too.

I imagine once it's written it would be best to approach all of the sites for permission to have their link on it.

I like the idea of money gooing to a charity, in which case scrub any suggestion of my 5p cut, there's a few projects that I know of which may or may not want this money.

There's your snail-rescue if you want to go down that route,

There's a snail sanctuary or two on other forums,

The ISS may or may not need money, I'm not sure,

There's the possibility of saving money made to put towards Brixton Market rescues, there's other people who do so already and this may help in those causes,

There's zoos and all sorts really, but I'm just trying to give examples, or anything close to your heart, not trying to suggest it should be snails.

[gojira]

No I agree Kevin if you're writing a guide with species names in it then it's essential that it's correct even if 99% of the readers don't appreciate the difference. I personally think a latin primer should be included as part of general education as it was for me and I'd imagine probably you as well, but that's not a very fashionable view anymore. I agree though, I was just not sure what you meant.

I think the Brixton project is extremely worthwhile and would happily contribute to that but I would look around and see which snail charity or group needs the money most. I doubt it would be that much cash but it's got to be better than nothing hasn't it?

There are some really great guides out there and it takes two minutes to look things up on the Internet but most people have a scarily low reading age in this country and good guides on the Internet tend to hit levels of complexity I don't think the average ebayer is going to cope with.

If that sounds harsh here's two examples of emails that have arrived today..

"Your description says it is mint but the jacket is red is that your camara? plz confirm thx" and "Does second edition mean its second hand?"

[Arno]

Well I think everything has already been said so :yes it's a great idea ;D

ps:those two examples are hilarious

[toto]

Even if I add too late, beautiful idea, go ahead.